Oops!

Okay, so to my few regular readers out there, I have to apologize. It's been a crazy month at work for me this month (and still going - had to go in today) and I just realized that all the blogs I've written this month weren't published. It's just a button to push. But in my rush to just write the blogs and add the pictures, I'd hit save and then close out after I previewed. It wasn't until I had a minute to breathe that I realized my blog hadn't had a post since early May.

I'm not going to make excuses... they're all there now for you to catch up on. Thankfully, I did at least save them. There's a busy summer ahead, too!

The Boom Lift

As most people who read this know, Eric and I live in a old house. Like, really old. Eric bought it off of a guy whose family owned it for decades, and had done NOTHING to maintain it, let alone update it.

That was about six years ago. By the time I moved into about four years ago, Eric had done a lot, including restoring nearly all the original hardwood floors and trim. He found a few pleasant surprises along the way... and some not so pleasant. But the inside was looking good and the last major project was a master bath (we'll leave that for another blog one day).

One thing he learned in his house renovation experience is that, except for a bad roof, always fix the inside up fist because that's what you live with and see everyday. If you make it look pretty from the outside first, then everyone enjoys your old home but you, because you have chaos on the inside that you look at everyday.

That's not to say he's done nothing on the outside. The entire front porch was rebuilt, and we get nothing but compliments on that. But the big project outside is the siding. It's an old house, with old wood siding. And since we live in a historic district, it has to stay as such, which means the maintenance is a nightmare, in my opinion. He's done some, but I'm all about virtually maintenance free brick exteriors - this siding crap isn't worth the effort. I think brick looks nicer, too.

ANYWAY, the maintenance thus far on the siding has be horrendous (mainly for Eric). As I said, the previous owners did nothing, and I'm pretty sure most of what's up there is the original siding from 1905-ish. Okay... so maybe they've done something since then, but there was nothing done over the last couple of decades, while it was a rental. The lower level is easy enough... even the second level isn't so bad. But it's the upper attic level and the peaks beyond that level that are impossible. The priming, painting, replacing, and just the up and down on ladders makes it an extremely slow DIY process.

With the prospect of a garage being built this summer, Eric wanted to finish the back. Made sense. So last week, he proposed renting a 60' construction boom lift for the long weekend. I didn't even argue - if it meant getting it done, I was all for it. So he did. That thing is crazy! But, over the past few days, a lot got completed. The entire back - DONE! He even drove it around the front and made a few repairs to the front upper eave and painted all but the very, very upper peak that's set back a bit... which you can barely see from the road. The fixing of the eave by a contractor would've cost the rental fee alone, so it made it so worth it.

Now all that's left are the sides of the house... which are two very large faces with few windows. And lifts can't fit in the side yards, so it's back to the ladders and scaffolding.

But the lift was fun... kind of cool to play on. Yes... I went up on it, too. Not like Eric's amount of time up there, but I had to experience it. But I'm glad it goes away on Friday... the thing is monstrous! But it sure was worth it.

500 Festival Parade

Another first for me today... which is crazy, since I've lived in Indy for nearly 13 years and downtown, even, for almost four years! But in all my time here, I never made my way over to see the 500 Festival Parade.

This was a good year to go. Eric had an opportunity to get tickets (yes - if you want to sit in one of the many bleacher seats, you have to have a ticket... for a parade), so he did. This particular ticket even included lunch. Bonus, since the parade started at noon. This is the biggest parade Indy puts on (I think...), as it combines both Memorial Day, and the Indy 500 festivities, including all the drivers. There's actual floats in this parade, too, with special IndyCar shaped tow vehicles. There's even those giant balloons I thought they only had in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Of course there's all your standard stuff. High school bands, the Shriner's (in corvettes, not mini-cars/go-carts), horses, and 'famous people' waving to the crowd.

Our seats were near the last leg of the parade, though we still had a radio station nearby, announcing all the participants. The day itself was about perfect... maybe a tad on the warm side for a day in May. But it was still nice to sit in the sunshine for a few hours and just take a break from the norm.

The parade, itself was enjoyable, though I don't feel the need to go every year. It was pretty cool seeing all the floats, which are quite detailed, and even seeing the drivers, who seem to truly enjoy this 'time off' as they cruise the parade route with their families. I can see how this would be a fun parade for a kid to see, too. The balloons seemed to be a lot of kids' characters, like Dr. Suess characters or other cartoons.

So with this in the books, I think I've experienced all aspects of the Indy 500/"Month of May" that everyone gets so hyped up about. Except Pole Day. But I think I might of done that once, actually, early on. Oh, and they added a new race to the month this year, the Grand Prix of Indy, which is a road race. But I've done the Mini-Marathon, Fast Friday, Community Day, Carb Day, Race Day, Parade, the random day of practice... I guess I haven't experienced any of the balls/galas or charity events... but is that really part of the experience, since I can do those any time of year for different causes? Yeah... don't think it really matters. I say I've gotten the full experience.

Carb Day

I have been hearing about Carb Day since I moved to Indy. And not just about the event that is it, but the whole spectacle that it is. People take the day off work for this, which was a really big deal when I first moved here, because it was on a Thursday.

Then they moved it to Friday when they were trying to entice more people to come. And that's when I started hearing the stories of the grander it was back in its glory days, at the peak of the Indy 500's popularity. Like the Snake Pit, for examples... an area of pure trashiness, full of drugs, alcohol, and sex. Seriously. Those are the stories I heard.

So naturally, I was excited to experience all this greatness when I got an opportunity this year (for the first time). As you can imagine, my expectations were high. All this hype, surely the track would be brimming with people and full of the spectacle that the Indy 500 (supposedly) is.

My expectations were not met.

Not that it was a bad way... they were set awfully high. But I think if this wasn't a long time tradition for you or if you were getting completely plastered, there wasn't much to it. There was great people watching, though... I can say that. There were clearly two types of people in attendance.

The first type was the purist. The actual race fan who was there to see the cars do some of their fastest laps before raceday on Sunday. Afterall, 'Carb Day' actually started as Carburation Day, as it was the day the Carburetor got tweaked during the last practice before the big race. And it is still the last practice before the race. But they only get an hour now... which isn't a lot of time if that's the reason your there. Sure, they have a pit stop contest and the Indy Lights series race... but after that, there's nothing left for the purist in the crowd. So the purist really only have a reason to be there for about 4 hours. If that. And they really don't want to be around much longer as the other type becomes more prevalent.

The other type of person is the one there for the traditions and/or legend that is Carb Day. They are there to get completely wasted, make a spectacle of themselves, and go home with little memory of the day. These are the ones tossing jello shots in the stands like they're someone's dying wish, and swing beer bongs above their heads. And the costumes... or just crazy get-ups in general. Wow. Now THAT is some good people watching!

So if you're like me, and don't really fall into either of these categories, the day is just, well... "Meh." I guess is was a big deal that this was Jim Nabors last year to be at the 500, so it was cool to hear some of his stories. All in all, I had a good time since it was my first time, but I think unless I'm there with one of two types above and partaking in whichever motive they partake in, it's not as fun for me. That said, I won't ever turn down an invitation... but I won't likely search one out, either.

So Carb Day... IMS and IndyCar's desperate attempt to hold on the something from the past glory days, not recognizing that they need to step it up and add more events that have a broader appeal if they want to get more fans. They're taking baby steps... I'll give them that. They've added glamping and more banquet type events (for charity)... but there needs to be more. And that doesn't meant just added another race or another themed day at the track. The sport, itself, is not relatable. No one outside of the fanbase can recognize any of the drivers. NASCAR has notable drivers that everyone recognizes - they're in commercials during non-race programming. And obviously NFL, MLB, and the NBA has notable athletes. But that's just my opinion.

A Ball Game and a Wedding

Eric and I got home from an absolutely awesome weekend this afternoon. Yes - it's Monday afternoon. So yes, it included taking a day off work... even if it was for the drive home. But that extra day helped make it perfect.

It started Saturday morning. We didn't actually need to leave until around noon, or so, which allowed us to leisurely get pack and get ready to go. In theory, anyway... still felt a little rushed, but that was just because we were trying to take care of some things before leaving. But we did manage to get Chicago bound right about noon.

After some stops along the way, we got into town and to the theWit a little after 4pm (CDT). Still one of my favorite hotels. And surprisingly, it was the cheapest in town when we booked it just a few weeks ago. But we didn't stay long before jumping on the 'L' to head down to the White Sox game. You read that right... White Sox, not Cubbies. I need to indulge Eric every so often, too. LoL

It ended up being Susan G. Komen night at Comiskey Park. So there was a lot of pre-game activities going on around the stadium. They even gave away a pretty nice pink scarf to ladies, so that was a nifty bonus (even if it does say 'Sox' on it). Eric and I got there before the first pitch, so we had a chance to walk around the stadium before settling into out seats. It was a very slow game to start, so we got up and did a another lap midway through the game. of course, that's when a homerun was hit. Figures. But the White Sox still lost to the Diamondbacks by a run. Regardless, it was a great night to be at a ballgame.

We headed back to the hotel and had a drink before calling it a night. While Sunday wasn't going to be an early morning, it was going to be a long day... it was The Wedding Day for his cousin, Travis and his Bride, Melissa.

Sunday morning, we got up and walked over to the Panera across from Millennium Park. Chicago has their SGK Race for the Cure on Mother's Day (which was Sunday), so we watched a lot of the participants walking back after the race. It was the perfect morning to be sitting outside, eating breakfast, practically on the park. Even if Eric was on his computer doing work stuff.

We strolled back to the hotel and packed up to head out. We had to drive from Chicago to St. Joseph, MI, and we were hoping to stop at Redamak's along the way. But that was after another stop Eric had in mind, Marquette Beach park in Gary, IN. We learned about a full restoration this park went through recently, including two historic building built back in the boom of the City's growth. Thought it would be worth checking out and it gave us a chance to see the lake, too. I still have a hard time calling it a beach - there's no salty breeze! It turned out to be well worth the stop - it was a beautiful park and the buildings were beautifully restored (and part of one still in progress). It was definitely a gem worth saving is the often crime ridden City. The whole area around it was surprisingly well kept and a bit of a gem of a neighborhood, too. So since we ended up driving around here a little longer than anticipated, we had no time to wait in the big crowd at Redamak's, which was a bummer. Next trip north, I guess.

We finally get to our hotel in St. Joe, only to find out our hotel room wasn't ready. But we had to get ready for the wedding that we had to leave for in a half hour. Thankfully, Eric's parents were able to check in right before us, so we were able to use their room to quickly get ready. Then it was off to the wedding at The Blue Dress Barn.

First off, The Blue Dress Barn is an absolutely awesome venue! I've been to 'barn weddings' before, but this one was truly restored to serve the purpose of an event venue. It had it separate little areas set up for the different pieces of a wedding (or other event, I suppose), it never felt crowded, and you never felt like you were in an old dairy barn (except for some initial unseasonably warm/humid weather we were experiencing that made it a little stuffy for the first part of the reception). What surprised me was how BIG it was! I guess since it was an old dairy barn, it had that larger footprint for all the cattle in the lower level (which we never saw - we were upstairs). Inside, they had it so shabby chic decorated and lit with lanterns and old chandeliers. And again, the space was huge!

So the wedding ceremony, itself, was outside in a little grassy area set up for the ceremony, with a nice path, leading to a staged area between to two old silos. I imagine if it was later in the spring, the area would have a lot of colorful flowers, but even without that, it was a very pretty backdrop. The bride was beautiful! When Travis first saw Melissa come out from the bridal suite with her dad, his expression was priceless - that of a man that truly loved the woman he was about to marry. It was so sweet. They were both so enamored by each other throughout the ceremony... it was, quite simply, perfect.

There were pictures galore - I can only imagine the amount of photos they'll be going through. They had a great photographer who was open to taking pictures at anyone's request, and had pictures of the wedding party taken all over the grounds. We even managed to get all the Strickland Family that was there together for a group photo with the bide and groom. After all of the pictures were taken outside, they finally made their way into the barn, and the full reception began.

I've yet to mention that both the bride and groom are professional chefs, trained at the NYC Culinary Institute of America. So - no pressure - we fully expected this to be a wedding with top notch food. And we all had quite a laugh when the bride and groom were the first to go to the buffet line of roasted pork and chicken (done on premises) and they both just smelled all of the food, first. They were very particular with the caterers, from what I was told. Not that we were surprised by that fact. And the food showed that fact. Yum!

We had a lot of the standard fare of ceremonial traditions post ceremony, from the first dances, to the toasts, to the cutting of the cake. But for us, it was more about the family. Some of Eric's cousins are spread all over, including Travis and Melissa, now, who just moved to CA a month or so ago. We caught up quite a bit with his side of the family that's out in CA, as well as some that were just down the road in Laporte. I love that weddings bring all the family together... just wish it didn't take a wedding to make it happen. But none the less, it's always a good time catching up with everyone.

While we weren't the last ones to head back to the hotel, there weren't too many left outside of our family when we left. So we said our good-byes, hugged everyone one last time before heading out, with promises of trips to see each other. Hopefully, that will happen. After all, I have family in CA, too, so that would make for a fun trip.

Food and Wine

Last Christmas, Eric's parents gave us a gift certificate for a cooking class at the Nestle Inn. Mind you, 'cooking class' is a term used loosely here... we did no cooking in our class.

We decided on a Wine and Food Pairing class. I was anticipating the standard wine/food pairing class, where they just kind of skimmed through what went with what wines, while you sampled some wines along the way. But this class was much cooler than that... I feel like I actually walked away with a bit more knowledge about drinking wine.

The class was a full on sensory class, where Chef Matthew Mejia actually had samples of the different scents you might get when tasting a wine. For example, he had a cup of lemon zest, as well as fresh lemon juice, which gave you the opportunity to really tell the difference, side by side, so that when you took a whiff of you wine, you could distinguish between the two. There was an array of things to smell, including various fruits, spices, and even some cola. Which was crazy when you could actually connect it to one of the reds we tried.

He further explained that you don't pair the wine with the food, you pair it with the strongest flavor of a dish. For example, the generic 'red goes with red meat and white goes with white meat/seafood' is that way for a reason... but not because of the meat itself. Typically, seafood gets marinated or doused with some sort of citrus based flavor, so you pair it with a white wine that has the same undertones. So if you have a steak that is actually marinated in a citrus based marinade, where you still taste a citrus flavor in the meat, the same wine could apply, not necessarily a red. It all made so much sense!

Of course, we sampled quite a few wines and had a nice cheese platter to go with it. And it was really cool to take some of what we were learning and actually pick out the right cheeses. It really does make a difference! Needless to say, I left quite excited about choosing wines in the future. For the first time, I feel like I actually have a clue about wine!